Biography

Right back Grahame McGifford joined the Tigers in May 1976 to strengthen manager John Kaye’s defensive options. He started the first match of the season, an Anglo Scottish Cup tie against Middlesbrough, but suffered an injury that kept him out o the subsequent handful of fixtures. By the time McGifford had returned to fitness City had put their faith in young locally-born full back Peter Daniel, whose consistency meant that McGifford’s only other first team appearance for the Tigers came eight months later in an April 1977 defeat to Oldham Athletic. McGifford left the club at the end of the season following the Tigers’ relegation to the Third Division.
Grahame Leslie McGifford was born in Carshalton in suburban London but grew up in Stockport with his younger brother Colin, who spent time on the books of Birmingham City. Grahame came through the youth team ranks at Huddersfield Town and made his first team debut in September 1972 against Luton Town. He had to wait another year for his next appearance, starting the 1973/74 season as the Terriers’ first choice right back. He dropped out of the side at the end of September and returned for a further dozen starts at the end of the season. After a slow start to the 1974/75 season Grahame was again Town’s first choice right back between November 1974 and April 1975, and his first team place seemed assured as he approached his 20th birthday. It was therefore a great disappointment when he made only three starts in the 1975/76 season and left the Terriers in the 1976 close season having made a total of 45 appearances for the club. The manager at Huddersfield for the first half of that disappointing final season was Bobby Collins, who later became City manager midway through McGifford’s appearance-free season at Boothferry Park.
In June 1977 McGifford signed for Port Vale and he played 27 times for the Valiants in the first half of the season, making his final appearance for the Vale Park side in a December 1977 FA Cup defeat to Walsall. Grahame left the professional game a few months later and signed for part-time side Northwich Victoria in August 1978 whilst retraining as a financial adviser. After a 40 year career in finance McGifford ended up as compliance director for Quint, a large financial group based in Stockport.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 1 May 1955, Carshalton
Hull City First Game: 7 August 1976, Middlesbrough A (Anglo Scottish Cup Group Stage), 21 years, 98 days old
Hull City Final Game: 9 April 1977, Oldham Athletic A (Division Two), 21 years, 343 days old
Clubs
Huddersfield Town (1972-1976), Hull City (1976-1977), Port Vale (1977-1978), Northwich Victoria
Hull City Record
Career: 2 apps, 0 goals
Grahame McGiffordSeason | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1976/77 | 1 (0) | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 (0) | 0 |